


Seven Bottles Later

by muldy



Category: Doctor Doctor (TV 2016)
Genre: Drunk Dialling, Fluff, but seriously why would you leave the room?, just tell him already, post-ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-11
Updated: 2017-10-11
Packaged: 2019-01-16 01:15:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12332541
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/muldy/pseuds/muldy
Summary: Why did it matter? She had saved his life, he was alive, it was up to him who he slept with and what he did, it was none of her business. She had her own responsibilities and problems to deal with, she didn’t need a Hugh to handle as well.





	Seven Bottles Later

**Author's Note:**

> This is totally unbeta'd and I'm writing it while very sick and drugged up, but I wanted to write fic for Sapphs!
> 
> So apologies in advance for any terribleness but here's some fluff :-)

‘Penny?’

She looked up at the noise, only registering Betty staring down at her after a few moments. Why was Betty staring at her? Where was she?

She sat up straight.

She had been fast asleep at reception.

‘What time is it?’ she asked, standing up, knocking over a mostly empty beer bottle as she did so.

Betty took a few steps away from her as she steadied herself, clearly still not sober. Penny took in a deep breath, collecting herself.

_You are the head doctor of a rural hospital. You have got to get a grip._

The smell of coffee wafted up and she noticed that Betty was holding out two mugs.

‘What are these?’ she asked, confused.

‘One coffee, one tea, I wasn’t sure what would be more appropriate for your hangover,’ Betty commented.

‘If you have some kind of caffeine on IV that might be more useful,’ Penny muttered.

Betty hesitated.

‘Jokes, Betty,’ Penny said, sinking back into the reception chair and rubbing her head.

Her eyes fell to the other seven bottles of beer sitting underneath her desk. Well, that would explain a lot.

This was what she got for pushing away her emotions, for pretending there was nothing there until it was too late. Where had that other woman even come from?

‘Las Vegas,’ Betty replied.

Penny blinked at her. ‘Did I say that out loud?’

‘Oh no, your face is doing all the talking,’ Betty put both mugs down in front of her. ‘Maybe drink both.’

Her phone blinked in front of her and she picked it up, there was just one message from Hugh.

 _Perhaps once you’ve sobered up, we should talk_.

Once she’d –

Oh no.

Opening her call log she began scrolling through it. She had called Hugh not once or twice, but fifteen times. All of the calls were the same length, which meant that she had been chatting to his voicemail –

‘Betty, I need you to get me out of here before – ‘

‘Good morning!’

Penny’s instinct was to duck under the reception desk, which of course didn’t help the situation at all and resulted in all of the bottles of alcohol she had consumed the night before knocking each other over like dominos.

‘Hugh,’ Betty greeted him. ‘Penny’s not here.’

‘I can see her,’ Hugh replied.

Penny took a deep breath and stood up. ‘Just cleaning up my mess from last night.’

‘You want to clean up the rest of it in my office?’

‘You’re not meant to be working yet,’ she shot back.

‘I didn’t say I was working, I said we should probably talk…’

‘No, I’m good, thanks,’ she grabbed her keys off the counter. ‘Betty cover my patients for the next couple of hours would you?’

Without looking back she ran from the hospital, hearing Hugh’s echo of her name behind her.

 

* * *

 

 

What had she said?

She stared out at the Whyhope main street from her car, a tub of ice cream in hand.

It had started with that woman. His _wife_. How had he forgotten to mention that he had a wife? And why did that surprise her?

He was the most infuriating person she had ever fallen in love with.

And he had almost died.

Then he had turned to the other woman.

She felt her heart scrunch up into a tiny ball in her chest.

Why did it matter? She had saved his life, he was alive, it was up to him who he slept with and what he did, it was none of her business. She had her own responsibilities and problems to deal with, she didn’t need a Hugh to handle as well.

But then why did that horrid feeling in her chest refuse to go away?

She had been ready to tell him, right after the hospital, she was going to tell him that she loved him and she wanted to try this. To risk everything for some guy two years earlier she would have sworn never to let herself near.

Her passenger door opened and she startled, aiming her spoon at the invader.

‘Hugh!’ she exclaimed.

‘Sorry, I felt like you weren’t going to come to me, so I tracked you down,’ he said, taking the spoon and trying to dip it into the ice cream.

She pulled the tub away from him.

‘This is low sugar coconut milk ice cream, it’s expensive,’ she snatched the spoon back.

‘Okay, then can we at least talk?’

‘No, I don’t think I have anything to say to you,’ she replied.

He held out his phone and her heart stopped, her hands clammed up with sweat, despite the ice cream container in her hand and she watched as he pressed play.

‘ _Hugh. I think it’s entirely unfair that I save your life and then you wake up the moment that…her…she…the American enters. That’s so not fair.’_

Beep.

_‘You know Ken is still hanging around the hospital at midnight on a Tuesday? That’s a bit odd. Do you think he’s having some kind of kinky – hey! Give that - .’_

Beep.

_‘I think I’ve decided to give Ken a pay cut for his behaviour. And he took three of my beers, something about it being for my own good, but I think he doesn’t know where my secret stash is.’_

Beep.

_‘You know I swore off feelings for this reason. I have the hospital and I have Floyd and I don’t need a you. I don’t need a Hugh. Ha. That rhymes. You. Hugh. I love you.’_

Beep

_‘I know I just said I loved you but you should probably forget that.’_

Beep.

‘ _But it’s the truth. I love you Hugh, and I thought I was going to lose you, that you were going to die right in front of me and I stayed by your side right until the moment the doctor said you would be fine and then she swept in and took you – ‘_

Beep.

She stared into her ice cream in silence.

‘Sounds to me like you had a few things to say….’ Hugh said cautiously. ‘Of course, if you want me to delete those and pretend it never happened I could, but I feel like that’s actually not what you want.’

‘Oh god,’ she finally managed, looking at him in horror. ‘I do not remember any of that.’

‘So none of it’s true?’ he asked.

She searched his eyes for a moment, trying to figure it out. Did he want this? Did he feel the same?

And then she saw it.

The fear, apprehension at her answer, and for the first time in days she felt the invisible fist around her heart unclench and allow her to smile slightly.

‘Well Ken’s probably not getting a pay cut for taking away my beer,’ she joked. ‘But I guess the rest is pretty accurate.’

Before she could meet his eyes again his lips were against hers, a hand held lightly on her face.

After a few moments, definitely not long enough, he pulled back and smiled slightly.

‘Peppermint coconut? That’s a strange flavour…’

‘It was the first thing I grabbed from the shop,’ she defended herself, smiling.

‘I’ll save my judgement for less stressful times,’ he replied, lightly playing with her hair. ‘Shall we get back to the hospital before Betty sends out a search party?’

She nodded, turning the car back on, unable to wipe the giant grin from her face.

‘And Penny?’ he said quietly.

She looked at him before driving off.

‘Yeah?’ she asked.

‘Next time you want to tell me you love me, just do it to my face,’ he teased, taking her ice cream and spoon and eating it, pulling a face as he did so.


End file.
